Distinguished visiting professor at UH Hilo's College of Business and Economics

Dr. Arch Woodside of Boston College is the 2006 Kitaro Watanabe Distinguished Visiting Professor of Tourism at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo College of Business and Economics. The Watanabe professorship is the only endowed tourism chair in the State of Hawaiʻi.

Woodside, who also served in the Watanabe chair in 1997, is offering a special accelerated tourism research from August 21 through the middle of October. Students will be engaged in hands-on tourism marketing research under his direction, with projects focused in and around Hilo.

Woodside is conducting cooperative research with CoBE faculty. He and marketing professor Dr. Drew Martin are currently conducting research on the tourism plans of Japanese and Chinese visitors to Hawaiʻi. He is also planning a long-term research project with management professor Dr. Emmeline dePillis that will involve multiple institutions and utilize evaluation theory to assess government program evaluations.

Woodside is also planning a community presentation in the role of story telling in brand building and has written several papers on the topic. He believes that the CoBE and its sister colleges can play a key role in a coordinated approach that will involve students, faculty and the community. His vision is for the University to create a summer performing arts series focused on stories of the Big Island.

"These kinds of opportunities for our students, faculty and community are priceless," said CoBE Dean Dr. Marcia Sakai. "The tourism industry is burgeoning and appropriate research and training will help to support and direct the sustainable development of this industry in Hawaiʻi. We are extremely fortunate to have Dr. Woodside at UH Hilo."

Woodside founded the International Society of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research and its professional journal as a direct outgrowth of a research symposium held at UH Hilo in 1998. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Society for Marketing Advances, the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society.

The Kitaro Watanabe Distinguished Visiting Professor of Tourism endowment was established in 1987 specifically for the Big Island by Mr. Kitaro Watanabe to "inject new ideas, fresh approaches and creative insights into existing programs" and to "stimulate dynamic research and projects."

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